Looking back at my posts lately, I realize they have been pretty whiny. Lots of complaining, when I have so much to be thankful for! For instance, I'm thankful God created mice. I despise mice! I'm famous for standing on the coffee table, screaming bloody murder if I see one. But these disgusting little creatures just might be a key component in making my life more livable! So, little mice, as long as you don't make my home your new home, please continue to multiply! But remember, mi casa es NOT su casa.
The month of April proved to be very exciting as far as POTS research! I have a brain that runs circles, but the mouse reference above did actually have a point. A group at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville recently found a way to replicate POTS in mice. It involves a mutation in a norepinephrine transporter. This group previously found that POTS patients have this mutation, causing us to have some serious issues with adrenaline. I'm not a doctor and I didn't go to medical school so I'm not going to pretend to completely understand all of this. When I read these research studies, it's a long process that involves a lot of re-reading and Googling. Anyways, this is an exciting development in POTSie land. When studying actual humans, researchers are pretty limited in what they can do. While I feel a tiny little bit sorry for the hideous mice, they are opening a lot of doors in POTS research. Besides, I participated in a study at Mayo Clinic so I feel like I've paid my dues! ;-) Here's the link to that study by the way http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23580201.
This next bit of research came from some Doctors who I saw when I was first diagnosed at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. They found some new autoantibodies in some POTS patients. My very basic understanding is that anyone with an autoimmune disease has autoantibodies that attack certain parts of their body. For instance, people with Hashimoto's Disease have autoantibodies that attack the thyroid. The autoantibodies in this study attack a group of proteins responsible for many different functions in the body. They help regulate adrenaline signaling, calcium signaling, and energy metabolism, among other things. This makes perfect sense! It even explains why I might have a B12 deficiency. If my body is attacking proteins associated with energy metabolism, it seems that my body would use more B12 which is used for energy metabolism. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! :-) Again, I'm not a doctor so this is just my busy mind making speculations. Here is the link to that study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23562385.
Those were the two main studies that caught my eye last month. There are others and I urge you to visit pubmed.org if you're interested in reading more. Pubmed is a wonderful resource. You can search any medical condition known to man and read research studies pertaining to them. Again, I'm sure I don't always decipher these studies accurately, but I like to try to stay up-to-date and informed on my condition. Plus, reading these studies gives me hope that good things are on the way! It amazes me how much they learn every year! Dr. Goodman told me that he thinks there is an autoimmune component to this illness and I feel like they are right on the crest of figuring it out. Exciting things on the horizon! Maybe when I get some extra energy and time, I'll go to medical school so I can solve this mystery myself! :-)
"An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." Proverbs 18:15
Amy
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